27th Annual Oregon Brewers Festival: Fun Facts

Summer is flying by! One of the highlights of the Portland summer season, The Oregon Brewers Festival, kicks off next Wednesday, July 23 and runs through Sunday, July 27.

I'll share more information about OBF during the next week, including the full taplist. But for now, here are some fun facts to whet your appetite:

•27th year of the festival.

•88 handcraft beers are poured in the main festival; another 100+ in the Specialty Tent.

•There are 86 participating breweries (Deschutes has two entries, one Gluten-Free), plus Collaborator, a project in which Oregon Brew Crew homebrewers create the recipe and have it made and distributed by Widmer Bros. Brewing.

•14 states are represented: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin; plus British Columbia. In the Specialty Tent we also have Germany and The Netherlands.

•In the main festival, Maui Brewing Co traveled the furthest at 2,568 miles; Dunedin Brewing from Dunedin, Florida, was a close second with 2,483 (and the brewers actually drove their kegs on a road trip to the fest!); and Dogfish Head from Milton, Delaware was third at 2,434 miles.